Once upon a time, a mother blue bird came upon her son, crying in a tree.
"My son," she exclaimed, "why do you grieve so?"
"The kids at school were making fun of me again," he replied, looking up at her with tearful eyes.
The mother blue bird sighed sadly. You see, everyone in their family had traditionally blue feathers, but for some unknown reason, her son was born with brown feathers. She had hoped that they would have come in as he grew up, but brown his feathers stayed. He was teased relentlessly by his classmates for
"Why can't I be blue like you, Mom? Why do I have to be different?," he asked. "You all have beautiful blue feathers, and I'm stuck with this weird mud-brown color."
"Honey, I don't know why you have brown feathers, but that does not make you weird. You are handsome in your own way. So your feathers are a little different. That shouldn't mean anything when you have such a good heart underneath them all," she replied.
The brown bird remained silent, not believing his mother's words.
"You know what, how about I go grab us some lunch? I saw a dirt patch nearby that is crawling with those juicy worms you like. I'll be back in a bit!" said his mother, hugging her son and flying away.
The brown bird sat down on his branch, watching a crimson red snake devour his prey. He wished more than anything, he could have that color, too.
"One day, I'll be as colorful as everyone else, and then they'll feel bad for ever making fun of me.", he declared aloud. "One day.."
All of a sudden, he heard someone crying for help beyond the river. He tried to see who it was, but he was too far away.
"Mom won't notice if I leave for a little bit," he thought. He flew from his tree and headed in the direction of the cry. He searched all along the river for the source of the cry when he finally set eyes on a wolf, howling away. As he approached it, he saw the wolf couldn't open his eyes due to some dark substance all over them.
"What is the matter? What is in your eyes?," the brown bird asked curiously. The wolf growled in anger as he told his story.
"I was having a perfectly pleasant day until a raccoon walked by and called me stupid. I could not let some measly raccoon insult my good honor like that, so I chased him. I saw him in the river and jumped in, only to realize it was a reflection, and the raccoon was sitting on a tree above the water." explained the wolf.
The brown bird was silent for a few seconds. "So you dove into a river for a reflection..."
"What?! It was a simple mistake. It could have happened to anyone! I am not dumb." said the wolf defiantly. "Anyways, I came out here to dry myself off, but I fell asleep. Then, that darned raccoon came and put dung all over my eyes, and now I can't see! You have to help me, little bird"
"I suppose I can help. Maybe you can help me in return. I'm the only brown bird of my kind, and I have to do something to stop everyone from teasing me," replied the bird.
"I know a place with beautiful colors and paints; I think it will help you. Now, please get this off my eyes. I think the smell is starting to kill me slowly." cried the wolf.
The brown bird flew onto the wolf's snout and gently pecked away all the dung away from the wolf's eyes until he could see again.
"Oh, what a sight to behold. I think the trees look greener than they did before," exclaimed the wolf, happily soaking in the sights of the forest. He turned his attention back to the little bird in front of him. "Oh yeah, you definitely need another color. Come with me.". The wolf took the bird to a nearby cave filled with paints of different colors, including a brilliant blue.
"There!" said the bird. "That's the color I need!" As he flew to the paint, the wolf stopped him.
"Wait, why do you want to be blue? You have so many different colors to choose from," he questioned.
The bird thought it over, agreeing with the wolf. "You're right," he said. "This is my chance to become anyone I want to be!". A large pot of red paint caught his eye. "That's the one. People will never mistake me for a branch again with that bright hue". He flew over and carefully painted his feathers, covering the brown with a luscious red. He thanked the wolf and returned to his nest.
"Where have you been?!", asked his mother. "And what on earth happened to you?"
"Sorry, Mom, I didn't know I would be gone so long. What do you think? I decided to change my look. Out with the old, in with the new." declared the bird.
"Aw, I think you look very handsome! And red! What a bright color," said his mother approvingly. The now red bird went to show everyone his transformation. They were all very impressed with his new look and apologized for teasing him before. The red bird was over the moon with joy. He wanted to go celebrate.
"Come on, guys. I feel like we need to do something big! Let's go paint the town red!"
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Author's Note: For the most part, I tried to stay in line with the plot of the original story. It was a lot shorter and started out with the raccoon insulting the wolf. In it, the brown bird doesn't have much backstory, so I wanted to give him more depth so his wanting to be another color would mean something more. I also didn't mention the raccoon that much, simply because i thought the wolf and the bird were the true protagonists, and the story didn't need the raccoon to be as involved. The wolf also takes the bird to a rock with streaks of red paint in the original story, but I wanted the bird to be able to make that decision even after having the blue that he had originally wanted. He was so tired of being brown that he decided to go all out. Overall, the story's moral is that we can be anyone we want to be. We can fit in with other people if that's what we want, but we also have the option to stand out and be different. We should respect each other for what we are and strive to live in a world of harmony with each other.